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One <strong>of</strong> the goals <strong>of</strong> this thesis has <strong>be</strong>en to fiubtt~te the potential <strong>of</strong> using a sing&<br />
station radar to estimate both radial and tangential current mmponents. Thk is<br />
certainly pcssihle as the simulations have demomrated. However, further studies will<br />
need to he attempted, with more extensive simulations and gmvndtruthing exerto<br />
validate the technique with actual data.<br />
-<br />
Even though the technique developed here <strong>may</strong> not dupiieate the accuracy ab tained from a *site system it <strong>may</strong> stii <strong>be</strong> sficient for search and rescue purposes,<br />
or for oil spill mntinpncy planning where surface transport <strong>may</strong> <strong>be</strong> required<br />
as opposed to heresolution point measurements.<br />
6.4 Future Developments<br />
The most important radar parameter for the estimation <strong>of</strong> ocean currents is the<br />
Doppler frequency resolution <strong>of</strong> the system, since this dictates the resolving p ow <strong>of</strong><br />
the radar with respect to current magnitude dewtion. To improve on thk resolution<br />
the examination <strong>of</strong> modem speetral estimation techniques <strong>may</strong> have to <strong>be</strong> considered<br />
(Hickey et ol. [54]). These techniques <strong>may</strong> <strong>be</strong> used to obtain a <strong>be</strong>tter estimate <strong>of</strong> the<br />
displaced Bragg frequencies and hence the radial current. Such techniques usually<br />
require fewer samples than the FFT p- speetd estimate, thereby allowing a scan<br />
<strong>of</strong> the radar coverage area to he performed in a mare timely manner than presently<br />
possible. For example, a full scan <strong>of</strong> the mwage area requires appmdmately one<br />
hour d data mumtian to yield the velocity resolution pmvided by the experimental<br />
data presented here. If <strong>only</strong> 32 time samples for e d <strong>be</strong>am were required, ar oppd to 512 to obtain aspect& estimate, the same zone muld <strong>be</strong> scanned in approximately<br />
<strong>10</strong> minutes. This is very advantageous, especially in the area <strong>of</strong> search and r-e or<br />
oil4piU traddng, where timely and regvlar surfwe current updates are required. It is<br />
also important for singlestation wetor current estimation since the sea is more Likely<br />
to remain stationary from <strong>be</strong>am to <strong>be</strong>am, with respeet to its statistical properties,<br />
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